Stocks may struggle to hold at record levels

Wall Street this morning will be trying to hold on to recent gains following back-to-back sessions last week that brought record highs for several major market indexes.

While confidence in last week's advance appeared to hold through the weekend, Wall Street likely wouldn't be surprised if some investors were inclined to take some money off the table following the sharp gains.

The run-up came ahead of a flurry of quarterly results -- 11 of the 30 companies that make up the Dow Jones industrials are due to report this week -- and in advance of key readings on inflation.

Forecasts from companies should help indicate whether they can continue to put up solid profit growth as pricing pressures fluctuate, in part because of forces such as rising oil prices.